Your locally-owned newspaper, serving North Bend and Snoqualmie, Washington
August 9, 2012 VOL. 4, NO. 32
Going once... Log mansion goes up for auction this week. Page 2
Your guide to the Festival at Mount Si Page 7
Tour offers a rare look into Seattle’s drinking water supply technically count as wildlife encounters. Seattle’s primary water supThe tour bus travels through ply is right in our backyard, way what used to be a pretty “hopabove North Bend at the Cedar ping” place in its peak, the River Municipal Watershed, and town of Cedar Falls, which used folks from all across the U.S. can to house all the engineers and to get a glimpse of the 91,000workers building the masonry acre area normally closed to the dam and wooden pipes that public. used gravity to The get the water to On the Web $5-$10 Seattle. Tap Tours, The group See a slideshow of the tour at offered by stood on top of www.snovalleystar.com. Seattle Public the dam, while Utilities LaBarge told throughout August, begin See WATER, Page 6 at the Cedar River Watershed Education Center, and 20 people, some from as far away as By Michele Mihalovich Connecticut and Arizona, set off Twenty people, some from as far Aug. 3 in a bus with naturalist away as Arizona and Connecticut, Pierre LaBarge to learn about the showed up for the Aug. 3 Tap Tour, history of the watershed, as well an exploration of the 91,000-acre as hoping for a peek at elk and watershed near North Bend that black bears. serves Seattle water drinkers. The group, however, viewed Here, the group stands on top of vultures and mosquitos, which the Masonry Dam. By Michele Mihalovich
New lawman Snoqualmie police chief is sworn in. Page 3
Emergency costs Levy is queued up for next year. Page 6
60 years of bliss Valley couple celebrates a marriage milestone. Page 10
June home sales looked promising in Valley By Michele Mihalovich
Trophy time Soccer teams bring home championship win. Page 12
Police blotter Page 14 Prsrt Std U.S. Postage PAID Kent, WA Permit No. 71 POSTAL CUSTOMER
Strong home sales are good news to city coffers, and North Bend and Snoqualmie experienced a nice little infusion in June after some pretty lackluster numbers since the economic downturn. When homes sell, cities get a portion through the Real Estate Excise Tax. In Snoqualmie, 25 residential properties sold in June — the highest number of homes that have sold in a month since September 2008, when everything started crashing, according to numbers supplied by Mayor Matt Larson. Also encouraging is the average price per home — $488,000. “Two upscale quality homes
sold in June, $900,000 to $1.2 million in price, which bumped the average price for properties upward,” Larson said. He said the June numbers are good news, compared with the May average of $385,000, and seem consistent with emerging news that housing prices have improved. North Bend also had a very good showing in June, selling 13 residential properties for an average of $391,326, according to information supplied by City Administrator Londi Lindell. In June 2011, only five homes sold with an average price of $295,776. North Bend really can’t See HOMES, Page 2
Vital bridge rehab work requires long-term closure of Snoqualmie Valley Trail section Repair to an old wooden bridge along King County’s Snoqualmie Valley Trail will require a 1,500-foot-long closure of the scenic trail for nearly three months, according to a press release from the county. Beginning Aug. 13, the trail will be closed from the 11th Street Northeast access point to the southern end of the bridge abutment at Northeast Eighth Street. This access section of the trail is near the Full Circle Farm south of Carnation. The work includes replacing or permanently shoring up wooden timbers that create the bridge’s support structure, and will improve the structural integrity of the bridge. A crew from the King County Roads Services Division will perform the work, which is expected to be completed by early November, for an estimated cost of $244,000.
Because of limited access points and the isolated location of the work area, there will be no designated trail detour around the worksite. Users are advised to take advantage of other King County regional trails, which can be viewed at www.kingcounty.gov/ recreation/parks/trails/regionaltrailssystem.aspx. At more than 31 miles in length, the Snoqualmie Valley Trail is the longest in King County’s 175-mile regional trail system. The trail winds through the largely rural Snoqualmie River Valley, passing working farms and forests, as well as Duvall, Carnation, Snoqualmie and North Bend. The trail connects with the cross-state John Wayne Pioneer Trail at its southern end and offers access to Tolt-MacDonald Park, Meadowbrook Farm and the Three Forks Natural Area.